Lake Lanier Guide, Ryan Coleman, with a 6 Lb. Lanier Spot caught while practicing for the FLW Series event on Lanier.

Here’s Ryan’s recap of the event on his home Lake:

Well, I’m glad it’s over. First of all I would like to congratulate my friend, Tim Farley for his awesome win. Tim did a fantastic job and represented the locals well here at Lanier. He overcome a bad day, nerves and deserved this as much as anyone. I could not be happier for him. I would also like to congratulate Jody Cordell and Tom Mann for their top 10 finishes. Jody also made a huge comeback from a day 1 falter. Tom showed why he has been the man on this lake for many years. He stumbled a little the first day but rebounded on day 2 and three with big catches. I congratulate them all.

For me, I did OK. I obviously like to have done better but I am proud of my accomplishment. I had a pretty good practice period and stayed consistent during the three days of fishing. I did not make any big mistakes and somewhat kept my head about myself against this huge field of pro anglers. I have to admit, I was pretty intimidated at the meeting. There were some big names in this event and I was starting wonder if I was at the right meeting. LOL.

I generated a plan during practice and pretty much stayed with it through the week. I had two decent morning places, both creek channels, that I was slow rolling a 3/8 albino fish head spin through. I was getting anywhere from 3-7 bites each morning and landed two or three fish each day early. These fish were feeding pretty good on bait and were healthy. I had at least one three pound fish each morning which was a good start.  I had a shallow dock pattern going when the sun was out where I was working an Xcalibur Stick Bait around the shallow docks for big fish. I only landed one big fish this way, a 4-8 spot on the first day, which was my only big fish of the event. These shallow fish were getting caught up as a lot of the guys found this pattern.

During the mid to late day, I was working YUM Houdini worms rigged on a 3/16 ounce spotsticker jig head and YUM Gonzo grubs on light spinning tackle around deep structure for the better part of my catch. I had a few places that I found last week that were not getting any pressure and I did not have to worry about sharing these fish. My plan held out on these places as we caught 10-20 keepers a day off these great spots. Most of my fish were coming from 20-40 feet water and stayed put for the most part.

I was pretty nervous after day 2 as I was only 2 pounds from the cut and 2 pounds ahead of 50th which was the last place check. I did not want to falter the last day and not stay in the check line. When the last place check is 10 grand, it seems to change the way you approach the day. At least it did me. LOL. I went out on the last day with the main goal of 10-12 pounds to assure myself of a check. I did that pretty early then ran main lake structure and shallow pockets to cull a few times. It worked but I just never got a big bite that could have boosted me up there in the top 10. I fished pretty efficiently as I probably worked 40 places the rest of the day.

I fished pretty good all week. I never lost or broke any fish off that hurt me and I kept my head to a certain extent. I kept to my plan and stayed with what I had found in practice did not fish "old" places. I feel pretty good about how it went down and know that one bite of a good spotted bass would have put me right in the top 10. I just never got that bite. My first two day co anglers did pretty well and both finished in the top 10. It was nice guiding you around. LOL

I had a good many follow boats all week and I appreciate them keeping their distance while I was working. I also appreciate all the emails and calls wishing me luck during the event. It was nice to get those when I was a nervous wreck. LOL. I would like to thank Donnie Sims and Glen Hammer
from Spotsticker Baits for helping me with my entry fee for this tournament. You guys don’t know how much I appreciated that.

Ryan Colman